Last time, we had just made our first panel, and had convinced ourselves that our system would work to build another twenty or so.

Now we just had to make them. So, we put out the call to our friends (and the local burner community), and people came out of the woodwork[1] to help[2]!

Above, you can see Mel and S helping Geoff[3] drill the base of post number 5. If you look closely, you may be able to see that post 5 connects to post 6, that the drill bit is a spade bit, and about 18″ long, and the taped guide on the right side of the post.

You may recall that we were drilling the bases of the posts so that they could accomodate 1/2″ rebar. 1′ of rebar into the posts, and 1-2′ of rebar into the ground (1′ into the ground in the middle of the maze, 2′ into the ground around the perimeter). This drilling was surprisingly tricky to do at the correct angle. You couldn’t do it straight down (so that gravity would help), as the posts were 8′ long. The other issue was that when you tried to drill them sideways, you had to make sure that you were drilling straight in two dimensions at once. The way we solved this was to get them as level as possible, then attach a guide so that the driller could have a chance at seeing both axes at once. From above and behind, the driller can see yaw pretty well, but it’s easy to miss pitch, especially because the drill is heavy. The side guide helped considerably, so that the driller could line the pitch of the drill (and especially drill bit) up with the guide[4].

E literally came out of the woodwork (or at least the shrubbery around the side of the house). It was an eventful day. Even more people came to help! Stay Tuned!

[1]Literally! (Or at least the shrubbery…)

[2]It’s interesting to think about this. I know we’ve enjoyed helping people build large projects in the past. I think people like being part of something, like building something, and it can be very relaxing to work on a task that you know ‘needs’ to be done, and you can focus on the task and not worry too much about the larger project.

[3]Gillian was also there, but I couldn’t find any pictures.

[4]Other fun things were the placement of the hinges so that the hole could be drilled for the rebar without disturbing the hinge screws. Structurally, you would want the hinges attached as close to the bottom of the posts and mirrors as possible, but you’d really want to leave at least a foot at the bottom of the posts so that you could drill into them and not ruin your drill bit on the screws.